Helm Created by Hygar Athame (Derek Booke)
Write Up by Kindrianna Athame (Renee Booke)
The helmet you see before you started off as a pile of paper and poster board. Hygar wanted to create something new and special for Queen of Hearts this year, so his first step in the creative process had to be creating a custom design/pattern from scratch. Knowing that our Queen Serra is from the nation of Eagle’s Rook, one of the original Knightocracies in the Realms, Hygar wanted to draw inspiration from more historic/traditional helmets and settled upon the visored crusader’s bascinet as a contender. He quickly realized he would have to build a helmet like this in multiple pieces: first the dome and helmet base, then a separate faceplate/visor.
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| The separate helmet pieces before assembly! |
The visor opens and closes so that if a fighter needs to take a quick drink of water/breathe better while wearing it they have a simple solution to do so. The way the pieces were designed to line up it also prevents the visor from falling back closed on you at an inconvenient time. The faceplate is also completely detachable for the fighter that just doesn't want to be bothered with it and it easily snaps back on as desired. Side feather pieces, once hand-tooled, were kept shorter to not interfere with combat effectiveness and molded closely to the head. When fully down, the faceplate uses decorative cut out designs to cover the earholes of the base helm while still providing their benefits. On the front of the helmet Hygar specifically used the cutout design (which he painstakingly did by hand with an x-acto knife) to enhance the field of vision and allow for better breathing in a helmet design that focuses on coverage. Another feature of the helmet that I'm particularly fond of is that it was made so that it can be worn with glasses. Nerd friendly!
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| Side view! |
The helmet was dyed using Fiebings Black Leather Dye and Eco-Flow: Silver. Once the base coats were on, Hygar used a black wash on the silver feathers to highlight the detail and went over the silver with actual silver lead to really make the helmet shine. Once dry, everything was sealed with leather sheen.
Going with the classic look and striving to create a piece reliant on mixed media, Hygar also drew inspiration from the "aventail" aka the mail covering attached to the back of the helmet that covers the neck and shoulders. He used black and silver rings in a four in one weave to do so.
Hopefully, you all enjoy this piece as much as we did! It was a challenge to create and we were both pleased with the results and proud of some of the design features that we came up with. If there are any questions about the process, methods or materials please feel free to ask!